I would like your opinion on what would help increase ability and eventually speed on a mountain bike. MX or BMX? I wish I had the time and money for both but I’m a poor college kid who spends the majority of the time racing MTB instead of doing homework. Moto would be more expensive but I’m more curious about which would make you a better rider in a quicker amount of time. Or which would make you learn better technique if done properly.

Since you ride both bikes and motos, I know you’ve had to deal with this conundrum, and I’m curious as to your take on it.

A long time ago I rode motos, mostly dual sport (and mostly on the street). I’m a newbie to MTB, and I think I’ve also decided I want a moto. (I’m 5’6”—a TTR 125 maybe? But that’s not what this letter is about.) So here’s my question: how do you deal with the fact that motos have the front brake on the right, while MTB’s have it on the left (unless you’re in Europe, of course)? When I got my mountain bike, I decided since I was already used to using my right hand for the front brake, I’d just swap the right and left levers. But it occurs to me if (more like when) I ride a friend’s bike, or rent a bike (can you say lift-assisted DH? :-), it’ll be backwards, which could get me all balled up (literally, maybe. lol). And I’m not real up for going the other way and swapping the clutch and brake levers on my moto when I finally get it.

Lee,
I am 39 years old, 5 foot 7 at 135 pounds and live in California (green/red sticker). I got a used little 1998 kx80 a year ago to see if I like dirt biking.

Of course I do, so now I need a bigger bike but a 125/250 seem too big for me. I can just barely tippy toe when sitting on one. I know people way smaller than me ride full size bikes and I should be on a full size bike, but I guess I am just intimidated by the size and power of the bike.

hey lee, wondering what you did to you 250x to make it run better at high altitude. we took the babes to switzerland trail and i think it’s time to get them better jetting for the mountains. who did the work for you? and do you know what exactly was done? also did you modify the rear tail light to add a brake light?
hope all is well
carol

I don’t know if this is the appropriate venue for this question, but here goes. What are the minimum requirements to start riding motos? I have MTB DH stuff but I feel like that won’t cut it, safety-wise. I have access to a bike, but no gear. What should I get/borrow?

Hey Lee,
I like MTBiking and moto like you, and certainly favour MTB. The question I always have is the prices of MTB. A motor bike is not much dearer than a top of the line MTB. I thought motorbike has a lot more technology and R&D costs associate with it. Are MTB companies just ripping us off?
Chay

Hey Lee,
it’s Simon again. Glad you liked the pics from Sea Otter, I can see one in your homepage!

Time for a moto question: I’ve recently tried a moto and I’m super stoked on it. Problem is, I’m a total beginner. I’d like a simple, easy motorbike that I can learn on, ride trails on and also do a bit of track riding. What could be a good choice? I’m pretty big in size, 6’3” and about 200 pounds, so I think a tiny, 4-stroke 125cc would be a bit too mellow for me. Some friends say that the best would be a 400cc 4-stroke enduro bike, like the Honda XR400, which has a more manageable engine than, let’s say, a 250cc 4 stroke. What you think?
It wouldn’t hurt if the bike could be street-legal, because here in Rome it could be of great use, at least in fair weather.

Lee,
I have read your mountain bike skills book cover to cover and learned a great deal. This last season I improved a ton, as a direct result of reading your book, and riding as much as I possibly could. I also started riding a motocross bike this year, and found it to be very different from Downhill Mountain Biking, although my basic mountain bike skills helped me quite a bit. You have posted a couple of things about moto skills, but I was wondering if you will ever write a book on moto skills and the correlations between mountain biking and moto? Thanks for everything you have done for riding.

hey lee, we just bought some new motos and are going to head out west to ride some desert trails soon. did you do any mods to your 450X? we ride the 450R on the tracks as supermotos and plan on using the 250X for the trail.
ciao
carol